On this day 2000 years ago Jesus was flogged, mocked and crucified to pay the penalty for our sin. Just before His death, with all our sin piled onto Him, He was so abhorrent to God the Father that He turned His face away from His beloved Son, causing Him to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

How many of us remember this day with gratitude in our hearts for His wonderful gift of salvation? Instead we revel in a long weekend of self-indulgence and worldly pleasures. Look up "Easter" on the internet, and all you find are ads for Easter holidays, Easter festivals, Easter specials, etc. The Easter weekend was instituted to remember the death and resurrection of our Lord, but how many of us give Him a single thought?

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The same thing has happened to Christmas, the day on which we supposedly remember the miraculous birth of God as a human baby on earth. Instead of bringing Him spiritual sacrifices of joy and praise, we gorge ourselves on food and drink. We pretend that this is a "christian" day by the exchange of gifts and regarding it as a family day. We have pushed Christ out of christmas, as surely as we have pushed Him out of easter.

On the evening of His crucifixion, during the Last Supper with His disciples, Jesus broke the bread and said, "This is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

We should repent of our callous attitude and behaviour, and instead invite the living Jesus into our hearts to give us eternal life. The only way to obtain joy and peace in this life is to put our trust in God. He will adopt us as His children and transform us into the image of His beloved Son.

Pray this simple prayer sincerely:

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Heavenly Father,
I know I have fallen short of your perfect standards.
Forgive me my sins because of what Jesus did for me on the cross.
I ask that Jesus come into my life and change it according to your plan.
Amen.